We have been enjoying Charleston over the past few weeks, and are getting ready to continue onward.

We have been staying on the MegaDock at the Charleston City Marina surrounded by boats mostly far bigger than Harmonie.

We had a very unusual pair of failures of equipment on our trip up here, unfortunately both in systems we consider important to our safety underway.

The first indication of an issue was the dramatically reduced performance of our AIS system. This system alerts us to large ships in our vicinity, and lets them know that we are here as well. Normally we would see a large ship appear on our screen at distances of between 30 and 50 miles. Suddenly, they are showing up no further than 4 or 5 miles away. A bit of troubleshooting confirms that the radio is just not getting a proper signal. Any time you have this issue on a boat Suspect Number One is always the cable to the antenna and its connections. In our case a trip to the top of the mizzen mast confirms that the antenna and its connections need to be replaced. We have received the new cabling for the installation, and are anxiously awaiting the delivery of the new antenna. We will have this system repaired before we are back out in the ocean.

The next issue was the sudden failure of our radar, which suddenly lost communications with the display. Our experience with technical support from B&G was very much a mixed bag. The technician who helped troubleshoot the system was great. Patient, helpful, and knowledgable. Unfortunately, the phone waits to actually get in touch with someone are insanely long. Literally all day. A call placed at 10AM was finally picked up from continuous hold at 4:30PM. Even though the unit is marginally older than the official policy allows, they agreed to replace it at a steeply discounted price with a newer unit. We are not likely to get this in hand before we move on.

It was a bit disconcerting to lose both of these systems at almost the same time. You realize how much we have come to depend on these technologies to keep us safe. When I first started ocean sailing, I had neither radar nor AIS. I survived, although the level of stress involved with figuring out manually if that distant set of lights on a large cargo ship is on a collision course is something I do NOT miss!

Things To Do in Charleston

You can walk for hours in Charleston and never once be out of sight of a beautiful home. The architecture, both historic and modern, is amazing.

In addition to its beautiful homes, this is a city with a very serious food fetish. Every restaurant seems better than the last. While you can find outrageously expensive food if you look for it, in general the food is very reasonable for the quality. One of our favorites is an oyster bar downtown called “Pearlz”. The chef is creative and talented. Everything we have had there has been over the top special.

Another recently discovered favorite is “60 Bull”. A small sandwich and dinner shop in a quiet residential neighborhood far from the tourist bustle. The shrimp and grits are just to die for, and I don’t even much care for grits!

We also had a chance to visit the Sistine Chapel. Or maybe the Sistine Chapel came to us? Are you now hopelessly confused?

Well… there is a traveling museum exhibit that just opened in Charleston, and will be here for the next 12 months. It is life-size high resolution photographs of Michelangelo’s frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. You can see these amazing works of art “up close and personnel” like nobody standing on the floor of the church itself can ever hope to. The photos are amazing. In many places you can see the scratches that Michelangelo made in the wet plaster over 500 years ago as the “rough sketch” that guided his paintbrush.

Even if you have seen the actual Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, this exhibit is 100% worth a visit. Definitely, highly recommended.

Our Route From Here

If the weather cooperates, we will be headed out of here next week, with a destination of Annapolis. Ironically, as soon as we touch down there, we will be jumping on an airplane to Florida to pick up a delivery and head right back up to the Chesapeake. The boat we’ll be delivering is a Hylas 54, and the new owner is a former student of mine from back when I was teaching sailing in Berkeley, California. In the eight years or so I taught sailing I probably had over 2000 students, so I guess it is not surprising that they keep popping up on sailboats all over!